News & Press

Dr. Michael Bergstein of ENT and Allergy Associates spoke to Ossining High School students about the dangers of smoking. Source: health.lohudblogs.com

For the second year, a Sleepy Hollow doctor and the American Cancer Society are asking students to come up with a song that will highlight the dangers of smoking cigarettes. Students from across the region will compete in the contest and the winning song will receive a $2,000 prize to be split between the student and the school.

Last week, Dr. Michael Bergstein, of ENT and Allergy Associates spoke to Ossining High School students about the dangers of smoking. This was part of ENTA's overall efforts, in partnership with the American Cancer Society to bring the Great American Smokeout to life for teen audiences.

Bergstein, who was joined by representatives from the American Cancer Society as well as Tobacco cessation specialist Sara Oppenheim, covered topics like how to deal with peer pressure, how the tobacco industry targets its advertising to teens, and the long term effects of smoke inhalation including second hand smoke.

As you may know, November 19th is the Great American Smokeout day, as officially designated by the American Cancer Society (ACS). While the incidence of cigarette smoking has declined among the general population, it is still a fact that 4,000 children start smoking everyday.

In an effort to help combat that, ENT and Allergy Associates (ENTA) has teamed up with the ACS to promote smoking cessation in the high schools in the New York and New Jersey area. Here's how...

We created a contest (flyers attached) that challenges your students

to create their own anti-smoking song/jingle/rap (in CD or DVD form, anywhere from 2-5 minutes in length)

submit them to you and a designated school committee for review

and then have you submit your 'school's best' to us to compete against the best from other schools

We, at ENTA, will be the final judges of the songs. The prize is $2,000 ($1,000 to the winning student and $1,000 to your school) to be awarded at an event held in Westchester County.

We believe this contest will generate substantial publicity - both inside and outside the high schools. Of course the biggest win here is for the message of anti-smoking to be heard more loudly and more clearly by high school students all around New York and New Jersey. The contest begins now, the cutoff date for submissions to us is January 10th, 2010...and the winner will be announced soon after.

We sincerely hope your school will participate in the contest and put up the flyers up as visibly as possible and encourages as many of your students as possible to join in.